Global urban environmental change drives adaptation in white clover
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
3-17-2022
Abstract
Urbanization transforms environments in ways that alter biological evolution. We examined whether urban environmental change drives parallel evolution by sampling 110,019 white clover plants from 6169 populations in 160 cities globally. Plants were assayed for a Mendelian antiherbivore defense that also affects tolerance to abiotic stressors. Urban-rural gradients were associated with the evolution of clines in defense in 47% of cities throughout the world. Variation in the strength of clines was explained by environmental changes in drought stress and vegetation cover that varied among cities. Sequencing 2074 genomes from 26 cities revealed that the evolution of urban-rural clines was best explained by adaptive evolution, but the degree of parallel adaptation varied among cities. Our results demonstrate that urbanization leads to adaptation at a global scale.
Recommended Citation
Santangelo JS, Ness RW, Cohan B, Fitzpatrick CR, Innes SG, Koch S, Miles LS, Munim S, Peres-Neto PR, Prashad C, Tong AT, Aguirre WE, Akinwole PO, Alberti M, Álvarez J, Anderson JT, Anderson JJ, Ando Y, Andrew NR, Angeoletto F, Anstett DN, Anstett J, Aoki-Gonçalves F, Arietta AZA, Arroyo MTK, Austen EJ, Baena-Díaz F, Barker CA, Baylis HA, Beliz JM, Benitez-Mora A, Bickford D, Biedebach G, Blackburn GS, Boehm MMA, Bonser SP, Bonte D, Bragger JR, Branquinho C, Brans KI, Bresciano JC, Brom PD, Bucharova A, Burt B, Cahill JF, Campbell KD, Carlen EJ, Carmona D, Castellanos MC, Centenaro G, Chalen I, Chaves JA, Chávez-Pesqueira M, Chen XY, Chilton AM, Chomiak KM, Cisneros-Heredia DF, Cisse IK, Classen AT, Comerford MS, Fradinger CC, Corney H, Crawford AJ, Crawford KM, Dahirel M, David S, De Haan R, Deacon NJ, Dean C, Del-Val E, Deligiannis EK, Denney D, Dettlaff MA, DiLeo MF, Ding YY, Domínguez-López ME, Dominoni DM, Draud SL, Dyson K, Ellers J, Espinosa CI, Essi L, Falahati-Anbaran M, Falcão JCF, Fargo HT, Fellowes MDE, Fitzpatrick RM, Flaherty LE, Flood PJ, Flores MF, Fornoni J, Foster AG, Frost CJ, Fuentes TL, Fulkerson JR, Gagnon E, Garbsch F, Garroway CJ, Gerstein AC, Giasson MM, Girdler EB, Gkelis S, Godsoe W, Golemiec AM, Golemiec M, González-Lagos C, Gorton AJ, Gotanda KM, Granath G, Greiner S, Griffiths JS, Grilo F, Gundel PE, Hamilton B, Hardin JM, He T, Heard SB, Henriques AF, Hernández-Poveda M, Hetherington-Rauth MC, Hill SJ, Hochuli DF, Hodgins KA, Hood GR, Hopkins GR, Hovanes KA, Howard AR, Hubbard SC, Ibarra-Cerdeña CN, Iñiguez-Armijos C, Jara-Arancio P, Jarrett BJM, Jeannot M, Jiménez-Lobato V, Johnson M, Johnson O, Johnson PP, Johnson R, Josephson MP, Jung MC, Just MG, Kahilainen A, Kailing OS, Kariñho-Betancourt E, Karousou R, Kirn LA, Kirschbaum A, Laine AL, LaMontagne JM, Lampei C, Lara C, Larson EL, Lázaro-Lobo A, Le JH, Leandro DS, Lee C, Lei Y, León CA, Lequerica Tamara ME, Levesque DC, Liao WJ, Ljubotina M, Locke H, Lockett MT, Longo TC, Lundholm JT, MacGillavry T, Mackin CR, Mahmoud AR, Manju IA, Mariën J, Martínez DN, Martínez-Bartolomé M, Meineke EK, Mendoza-Arroyo W, Merritt TJS, Merritt LEL, Migiani G, Minor ES, Mitchell N, Mohammadi Bazargani M, Moles AT, Monk JD, Moore CM, Morales-Morales PA, Moyers BT, Muñoz-Rojas M, Munshi-South J, Murphy SM, Murúa MM, Neila M, Nikolaidis O, Njunjić I, Nosko P, Núñez-Farfán J, Ohgushi T, Olsen KM, Opedal ØH, Ornelas C, Parachnowitsch AL, Paratore AS, Parody-Merino AM, Paule J, Paulo OS, Pena JC, Pfeiffer VW, Pinho P, Piot A, Porth IM, Poulos N, Puentes A, Qu J, Quintero-Vallejo E, Raciti SM, Raeymaekers JAM, Raveala KM, Rennison DJ, Ribeiro MC, Richardson JL, Rivas-Torres G, Rivera BJ, Roddy AB, Rodriguez-Muñoz E, Román JR, Rossi LS, Rowntree JK, Ryan TJ, Salinas S, Sanders NJ, Santiago-Rosario LY, Savage AM, Scheepens JF, Schilthuizen M, Schneider AC, Scholier T, Scott JL, Shaheed SA, Shefferson RP, Shepard CA, Shykoff JA, Silveira G, Smith AD, Solis-Gabriel L, Soro A, Spellman KV, Whitney KS, Starke-Ottich I, Stephan JG, Stephens JD, Szulc J, Szulkin M, Tack AJM, Tamburrino Í, Tate TD, Tergemina E, Theodorou P, Thompson KA, Threlfall CG, Tinghitella RM, Toledo-Chelala L, Tong X, Uroy L, Utsumi S, Vandegehuchte ML, VanWallendael A, Vidal PM, Wadgymar SM, Wang AY, Wang N, Warbrick ML, Whitney KD, Wiesmeier M, Wiles JT, Wu J, Xirocostas ZA, Yan Z, Yao J, Yoder JB, Yoshida O, Zhang J, Zhao Z, Ziter CD, Zuellig MP, Zufall RA, Zurita JE, Zytynska SE, Johnson MTJ. Global urban environmental change drives adaptation in white clover. Science. 2022 Mar 18;375(6586):1275-1281. doi: 10.1126/science.abk0989. Epub 2022 Mar 17.
Comments
Plants adapt to city environments
Urban development alters the local environment, potentially driving rapid evolution. Santangelo et al. collected data on white clover populations from 160 cities to test for consistent responses to urban environments. They found that the production of an antiherbivore chemical defense increased with greater distance from the urban center in many cities. Genomic data suggest that this trend is adaptive, likely in response to lowered drought stress and herbivory pressure in urban centers. This study from the Global Urban Evolution Project provides evidence of widespread adaptation to urbanization. —BEL